An estimated 5 500 stolen and hi-jacked vehicles from South Africa are ferried across the country’s border into neighbouring countries annually and this illicit vehicle theft costs the country R5b per year.
The SAPS is doing all it can to recover these vehicles and they acknowledge there is a lot of work to be done to fight these crimes.
According to them, the majority of these vehicles are taken via Mpumalanga across the Lebombo border into nearby Mozambique where only a handful of them have been recovered by the SAPS and returned to South Africa.
Other illegal outlets used by vehicle thieves syndicates are the Beit Bridge border post between SA and Zimbabwe as well as the Oshoek border post into Swaziland. Many of the stolen vehicles often end up in countries such as Zambia and Tanzania.
SAPS reported in March that the South Africa/Mozambique border is plagued with outlaw towns which are under the control of syndicates.
However, local media reports indicate that an SAPS cross-border task team is recovering stolen cars. According to these reports, 140 suspects have been linked to the vehicle theft.
During a recent two-day visit to the Mozambique capital where Police Minister Bheki Cele met the country’s Minister of the Interior, General Pedro Ronda, he announced the success of the SAPS in the recovery of stolen vehicles in the East African neighbouring country.
Ekurhuleni SAPS commended for securing hefty sentences.
Kathlehong: Ekurhuleni deputy district commissioner Brigadier Lebohang Machakela commended the meticulous investigations by SAPS members of the Family Violence, Child Protection Services and Sexual Offences Unit in securing a lengthy prison sentence for the accused.
Sergeant Siphelele Elsie Mtshali of the Katlehong SAPS’s FCS secured 20 years imprisonment for a 53-year-old man, Benjamin Bheki Diniso, who was a church pastor. Diniso was found guilty by the Johannesburg High Court after he sexually assaulted two males aged 17 to 29 in his church.
Warrant Officer Thundzuka Edison of the Germiston FCS secured a 20-year prison term for Phila Mcameleni (36) for kidnapping, rape, possession of an unlicensed firearm and murder.
The victim was walking with her two friends when they were approached by the accused who pointed a firearm at them. The accused then grabbed the victim and pulled her into his residence where he raped her.
The witness and her friend both reported the matter to the victim’s mother and the police were contacted. The police found the victim inside the house together with a firearm.
Investigations linked the firearm to a murder case that occurred in August 2019. Both cases were investigated by Warrant Officer Moyana who connected all the dots to secure the sentence on March 26 at the Germiston Regional Court.
